Friday, November 11, 2016

First Impressions: The Balm Cosmetics

As a longtime and frequent viewer of beauty channels on Youtube, I'm no stranger to the existence of the Balm Cosmetics. The San Francisco beauty brand has popped up on my radar for years, it's just taken me ages to finally make the plunge to pick up a few bits from them. I've been on a bit of a makeup binge lately, trying to up my game a bit I think. Regardless, I'm really excited to welcome two new products from the Balm into my makeup collection! I picked up the Nude Dude, Volume 2 eyeshadow palette and the Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter.

The Nude Dude, Volume 2 palette has 12 nude shades, with four matte finishes and the remainder shimmer or satin finishes. This cheeky palette has incredibly pigmented warm shades without leaning too pink. I don't look good in cool colors, but if a palette is too warm, then it also doesn't suit me. I always lean more towards the gold and bronze shades, rather than blues and silvers or pinks and purples. As the owner of many neutral eyeshadow palettes, I always appreciate some new shades being added to my collection. I feel like this palette replaced the few shades that I really loved in the Naked 3 palette (which I ended up giving away because a majority of the colors didn't suit me and it was taking up too much space in my life), which makes my heart so happy.

The color payoff of these are incredible. They're uber pigmented, they blend out nicely (I have the tiniest bit of a struggle blending out Funny and Fine, but it doesn't take that much effort to make them appear more opaque than patchy). Fearless, Flawless, Feisty, and Friendly are the perfect matte shades for a very low-key day where you don't want to do too much, whereas Faithful, Firm, Funny and Fine are great for that warm, statement eye. Pop on some winged liner and a bold lip and you're good to go!

Becca Opal, Mary Lou, Opal (again)

My obsession with highlighters continues. I don't have anything quite this bright in my collection, though Mary-Lou Manizer might seem somewhat similar to Becca's Opal, but in reality it is much lighter. While Opal leans more towards a light golden/champagne color, I would say Mary-Lou Manizer is a true champagne, maybe a bit lighter, even. It complements a lot of looks, no matter what blush color you choose (if you like to make sure it coordinates to your blush and eye look, that is). There's no glitter chunks in this, so it applies as a nice satin sheen across your cheekbones and doesn't get stuck in your pores or lines. It's a no-fuss highlighter that just gives you that illusion of a lift. I finally pried myself away from it today to give my other highlighers some love, but Mary-Lou might have stolen my heart.